CIRCA 1675, UNMARKED

Details

A Charles II gold tobacco-box
Circa 1675, unmarked
Oval and with detachable cover chased with a portrait bust of Charles I facing left, within plain frame engraved with the motto 'VIVAT REX CURRAT LEX FLORET GREX' surmounted by a Royal crown supported by two winged putti and with sun in splendour above and the inscription 'Video', the border further pierced and engraved with the emblems of France, England and Scotland with scrolling foliage between
3 1/8in. (135gr.)
4oz. (135gr.)
The inscriptions translated read, 'The King lives, the law guides, the flock prospers' and 'I see'.

Provenance

Anon. sale; Christie's London, 19 October 1988, lot 371

Literature

C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, LA, 1991, pp. 276-7, cat. no. 92

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

An identical gold box is in the Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, London and is illustrated in T. Schroder, Gold and Silver in the Gilbert Collection, Los Angeles, 1988, no.23. The Gilbert box is also discussed by C. Truman (op. cit.). Both authors discuss the problems of dating this and other similar boxes. In 1640 Thomas Knyvett wrote to his wife "to send by this bearer towe Hollingsworth Tobaccoe boxes with the King's picture of silver." There is, however, a tobacco-box of identical design to the present box with the maker's mark only, BB. This maker's mark is found on hallmarked pieces dating from 1673-1683 and it seems more likely that the Gilbert box, this example and the two silver boxes, lots 84 and 86 in this sale, are commemorative and date from Charles II's reign.

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